1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an opening and closing device for a vehicle slide door, and in particular, to an opening and closing device which has an improved connecting means between a handle switch provided in a slide door and a controller provided in a vehicle body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, an opening and closing device for a vehicle slide door slidably attached to a vehicle body has been publicly known. The opening and closing device comprises a powered sliding unit provided in the vehicle body for moving the slide door in a closing direction or an opening direction by means of a first motor, a powered closing unit provided in the slide door for moving the slide door from a half-latched position to a full-latched position by means of a second motor, an open handle provided on the slide door, a handle switch provided in the slide door for detecting actuation of the open handle, and a control means provided in the vehicle body for operating the powered sliding unit on the basis of a detection signal of the handle switch.
The problem with the above device is in that durability and reliability in a connecting means for transmitting the detection signal of the handle switch of the slide door to the control means of the vehicle body are low. The typical connecting means is composed of a wired signal line interposed between the slide door and the vehicle body, or a contact terminal such as pantograph. However, these signal line and contact terminal have a problem of disconnection and contact failure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,779 has disclosed an opening and closing device for a vehicle slide door slidably attached to a vehicle body which comprises a powered sliding unit (235) provided in the vehicle body for moving the slide door in a closing direction or an opening direction by means of a first motor, a powered closing unit (80) provided in the vehicle body for moving the slide door from a half-latched position to a full-latched position by means of a second motor (see column 14, lines 39 to 54), a powered locking unit (4M) provided in the slide door for locking or unlocking the slide door (see column 18, lines 14 to 32), a secondary battery (544) provided in the slide door for supplying an electric power to the powered locking unit (4M), a first terminal (552) provided in the vehicle body and electrically connected to a main battery on the vehicle body, and a second terminal (550) provided in the slide door and electrically connected to the secondary battery (544). The second terminal (550) is brought into contact with the first terminal (552) so as to electrically connect the battery and the secondary battery (544) when the slide door is fully closed. The opening and closing device further comprises an open handle (50) provided on the slide door, a handle switch (5LS) provided in the slide door for detecting actuation of the open handle (see column 33, lines 55 to 60), a control means (532) provided in the vehicle body for operating the powered sliding unit (235), and a connecting means for transmitting a radio signal to the control means (532) when the handle switch (5LS) detects the actuation of the open handle (50). The connecting means has a transmitter (518) provided in the slide door and a receiver (516) provided in the vehicle body. The control means (532) operates the powered sliding unit (235) when it recognizes the actuation of the open handle via the connecting means.
The latter device has no problem of disconnection and contact failure as the former device, because it has no wired connecting means. However, the wireless connecting means and the control means (532) of the latter device requires many components and a complicate circuit in order to distinguish whether a signal from the handle switch (5LS) is an instruction (command) for opening the slide door, or an instruction for closing the slide door.